Politics for Pilots

Imagine the plight of the first ancient mariner to point toward the horizon and say, “No more hugging the coastline for me, I’m going direct.” I think his name was Harpolos. For the purposes of this column, let’s say it was. The townsfolk must have thought Harpolos was mad. Crazy as a loon. The rational […]

Something wonderful happened on Aug. 1, 2016, in the sleepy hamlet of Winter Haven, Florida. A flight instructor named Jim Porterfield rifled through pages in his student’s logbook, affixed his signature beneath the exact wording of a required endorsement, then climbed out of the C-150 he’d been instructing his student in. He set his 17-year-old […]

Ocala, Florida, is the horse capital of the world. It says so on the Ocala/Marion County website. It’s what the place is famous for. If you like horses, low-rolling hills, wide open spaces, and fields of green grass, Ocala is the place for you. General aviation pilots rolling up to the FBO in Ocala know […]

There is precious little we can accomplish in life entirely on our own. We need help, or encouragement, or correction from others. And thank goodness. Life would be awfully lonely if we all went around all the time being entirely self-sufficient and self-contained. I’ve written a number of books over the course of my career, […]

In the inimitable words of Ray Kinsella, the main character in, Field of Dreams, “What’s in it for me?” The question is potentially offensive, totally ego driven, and as common as waves on water. Asking, “What’s in it for me?” is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, especially when you’re considering doing something as weird […]

On most mornings throughout the year, commuters driving along Interstate 4 through central Florida are treated to the elegantly bouyant eye candy of a low-speed airshow. Hot air balloons dot the skies for miles, drifting on light winds, and bringing joy to passengers and observers alike. It’s perfectly natural to be attracted to the sight […]

While wandering the streets of Manhattan recently it occurred to me that historic events have occurred on almost every street in that megalopolis. In the 1980s, I lived just off Washington Square Park on Bleecker Street. There in the shadow of New York University (NYU) is a broad open space that hosts chess players, musicians, […]

For general aviation pilots there is no more compelling challenge than that presented by currency. We’re talking about currency in both its common forms — cash and recent flight time. At least that’s the impression one could get from reading the email and notes readers send my way. These topics are inextricably linked for those […]

Typically, I write this column from an office in my home. My writing space used to be a single-car garage. But since single-car garages are generally too narrow and shallow to actually park a car in them, I converted mine into two rooms. The larger of the two is my office. The other is a […]